Monthly Archives: September 2016

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So we just got back from a trip to America, it was a quick, but absolutely wonderful adventure.

I was nervous before we went about how the kids would go on the 13 hour flights, what they would eat in America (Brooklyn being allergic to dairy/egg/soy/gluten & wheat and Bethenny and I allergic to wheat & gluten) and what we would do if they got sick over there but we made it!!

I am pleased to say that we mostly stayed well for the trip. Bethenny and I were completely fine, but unfortunately Brooklyn came into contact with an allergen on the last day of the trip so he was unwell on the way home and the first day home but he is on the mend now. I will explain later on….

Day 1 On the plane

We got a bassinette woo!! We had a spacious three seat area with the bassinette in front. We had to wake the kids this day at 5.30am to leave for the airport for our 10.55am flight so they were pretty tired by the time we got to the airport. Brooklyn usually goes down for his morning sleep at 10.15am and right to the minute he fell asleep quietly in the pram just as we were grabbing something to eat before boarding the plane.

I managed to transport him asleep to my arms and held him for his entire morning sleep of a couple of hours as they were still installing the bassinette on the wall for me and it was lovely to have beautiful sleepy baby snuggles as I rarely get that because he always sleeps in his cot at home.

Whilst he was sleeping and Bethenny was happily watching a movie I thought to myself seriously what was I worried about? This is amazing… we are off to America, Disney etc, fun times, no housework, no washing, no cooking, no uni work for two weeks… my worries were really first world problems.

Bethenny and I then received our gluten free lunch on the plane and it was tasty. One good thing about having special meal requirements is that you get your meal first one the plane so that is one positive as I love my food and I’m always hungry so the fact I get my food sooner is one positive to having a gluten and wheat allergy lol…

When Brooklyn woke up he played on the floor as there was enough room for him to do so. He did want to take off a few times as he has just started walking so he wants to get into everything but it wasn’t too bad.

He then had another sleep in the afternoon, basically the same as what he does at home. He did this in the bassinette and I used the fly babee. The fly babee is great. As the bassinette seats are on the bulk head, people are often walking past to go to the kitchen or toilet so there is a bit of traffic in the area therefore the fly babee provides comfort and darkness over the bassinette for babies to peacefully fall asleep and not be distracted between sleep cycles.

The lady who invented the fly babee has really thought of everything, it folds easily into a very small bag, but also, if you want to check on your babe it has these easy magnetic buttons for you to open a pouch and do so. It has got zippers if you want to open the cover more, but the pouch allows you a really simple, quiet and discreet way to check on your little one without waking them.

He fell asleep within a minute and slept for about an hour which is typical of his home afternoon sleep. He then had a third sleep when it hit 7pm at home as this is his usual bedtime at home and he slept for the rest of the flight in the bassinette, which was awesome, I slept and I watched a movie.

Day 2 Arrival in LA, visiting Santa Monica and arriving in Anahiem

We arrived at 7 in the morning and started our day on local time, even though we didn’t have our usual full night’s sleep we know from the past it is best to adjust by doing it this way.

We collected our rental car (a godsave!) and headed to Santa Monica. Food wise they were terrible, we tried about 5 places to see if they just had gluten free –figured it would be easiest just to feed Brooklyn one of his packet lamb casseroles and the fifth place finally had gluten free (Bubba Gump) but hardly any options, mainly just shrimp (Prawns) so Bethenny wasn’t too impressed. I ordered shrimp skewers with rice and it had a creamy garlic sauce, it was tasty but it’s not really something a three year old would fancy. She didn’t seem that hungry anyway after the flight so we just kinda rolled with it.

When we got back to Anaheim we looked up Chipotle Mexican and went there for dinner. It was delicious! I got a burrito bowl with grilled chicken, salsa, avocado and lettuce for Brooklyn and I to share and it tasted amazing.. so much better than Mad Mex in Australia. Brooklyn absolutely loved it and most ingredients are dairy/egg/soy/wheat/gluten free:

We all went to bed at 7pm. I woke about midnight with jet lag and stayed awake til about 2am. I think I woke Josh and Bethenny as they woke for a little bit but then we slept again til 7am. Everyone was very thirsty from the plane ride so I made sure we had plenty of water available and put Brooklyn’s spill proof sippy cup in his cot for him and he did take a sip in the night.

Day 2 Disneyland Anaheim

We went to the Plaza Inn character dining for brunch and it was AMAZING. They had their own allergy specialist chef and I was really sceptical of them being able to provide anything for Brooklyn as it is a buffet for everyone else but he made a note of Brooklyn’s allergies and told me how he has his own kitchen and he will go and prepare food for us separately.

He came out with Mickey Mouse shaped waffles with maple syrup, various fruits, sausage and potato hash.. Brooklyn was one happy boy!

I was so stoked that I almost forgot about the characters and next minute we have Winnie the Pooh at our table, it was amazing and I highly recommend it! The cost was USD$22 per person. You need to book in advance, have a look on their website and calculate when you can book it in then diarise that day and jump straight on there to secure your booking!

We also dined at the Galactic Grill near the Star Wars rides and I noticed they had a dairy free (separate) allergen menu, however we did not feed Brooklyn anything from there. Bethenny and I did however eat a gluten free burger and chips.

Disneyland is always amazing, it is indescribable. The only tips I can say is:

• You can take your own food in – no issues to do so

• If the whole family wants to go on rides you have to leave your pram unattended so keep this in mind. I took a crappy old pram that I didn’t care about. You can also hire prams however at Disney even double prams or various options. You can also pay to leave your belongings with staff so there are options.

• If the adults want to go on any rides, jump into the single rider lines, we did this plenty of times and it was great, meant we didn’t spend our day waiting in line. The kids rides funnily didn’t have much of a line at all so it was great; we got a lot of rides in.

• Selfie sticks are prohibited – bahaha… I did try take one, Josh was given it at work and we’ve never used it so I thought it was perfect for a Castle shot, but it got confiscated at the gate lol..

• There is a parents room they call it a baby care centre, you can breastfeed privately in there, heat food, change nappies and buy baby supplies. Again you must leave your pram at the door though, which is silly, considering your supplies are generally in the pram but that’s just what they do.